A Second Too Late
by ChristineBH
Summary: The final scene of Brother Bear with a twist. Denahi loves both his brothers more than he would ever admit but drastic times call for drastic measures, and when everything don't go according to the spirit's plan everything falls apart.


A distraught Denahi sat alone. Feeling cold both on the inside and outside. The wind kept killing the little fire he could lit which seemed excessively fit for the situation. He had lost both his brothers but even though he had been hunting the bear that killed his younger brother, he could never kill it like it could kill his brother. To make matters worse, it didn't even seem like the bear was trying to kill him. In a way it would be better if it killed him because then he could join his brothers but on the other hand he wanted revenge.

He refused to think about what to do if he succeeded in killing the bear, because of the simple reason that he still had no idea. Should he look for the bear that partly was to blame for Sitka's death? Because he knew that the bear that killed his little brother wasn't the same as the one that fell down a glacier with his big brother. He mainly knew because of the different sizes of the bears. But he supposed he would not hunt down the bigger bear since it had not mauled anyone he knew to death leaving only a few torn of pierces of clothes and even though he wanted to avenge his big brother he wasn't sure that Sitka would like it.

Denahi felt like he had not only lost his family but also himself. Sadden he voiced his feelings of distress while apologizing to his little brother, Kenai, and asking for help. Turning around he saw a bald eagle that quickly flew over his head just to grab his hood shortly before it released it and flew farther away. Even though it was not the brother he was asking for Denahi was still amazed for a second by the possibility that it was one of his deceased brothers but quickly gathered himself so he could follow it.

It was hard following an eagle since it could fly faster than Denahi could run on flat ground and he had to follow it up and down mountainsides with loose rocks and other obstacles, but he kept running, ignoring how tired he became, not willing to lose sight of the eagle in case it really was his elder brother, Sitka.

At last, Denahi knew that he was almost there. He knew that if the bald eagle really was Sitka trying to show him something this would be where, because the mountain was too big to just be something he had to crawl over. As Denahi was almost at the top he noticed the eagle was gone. He couldn't see much through the heavy snow but it had made noises a few times while he was following it to make sure he knew which way to go. Not that it made much of a difference now since he could hear a bear growling. He was almost completely sure it was the one he had tried to kill so he ran over the higher point of the mountain until he could jump down in front of the bear. He pulled down his hood to increase his field of vision and the bear seemed shocked in a weirdly human-like fashion.

It had acted weirdly since he tracked it down the first time, and Denahi had thought about the possibility that it got brain damaged from its fall after it killed Kenai but it did not make its sin any less unforgivable. Filled with anger and thirst for vengeance, Denahi charged at the bear ready to impale it with his spear. Unfortunately for him, the bear's paw held him back until it pushed him away. However, Denahi was ready to kill the bear or die trying so no matter how many times he was thrown away he kept charging at the bear until it caused both bear and man to fall over the edge and land on a ledge.

Denahi's breath was forced out of him as he landed on his stomach but he quickly got it back and stood up so he could finish what he started. The bear was still lying down and when he turned it, he saw that it was still alive but looked as if it had hit its head on the way down. Denahi took out his dagger. This would be an easier kill than he could have hoped for. So easy in fact he didn't even think about the spear he got separated from in his fall. The bear was grunting a bit but he didn't take any notice of it as he lifted his dagger, but as he was about to strike the bear under his feet something knocked into him. With an insane look he looked at what toppled him and saw a cub on the edge of the ledge. Quickly looking back at the other bear he saw it was still woozy and his spear was nowhere in sight. Looking around he soon located his spear a few meters behind the bear cub. Focused on retrieving it he ran not paying any mind to the cub until it realised what he wanted and ran all it could, bit down close to the spearhead, and kept running to get the spear out of Denahi's reach. The bigger bear grunted loudly in protest but they kept running until Denahi was close to the cub and spear and it tripped. Scared that it would be hurt it let go of the spear and ran. Denahi took the spear swiftly and turned around with it pointing at the bear just as it was jumping at him. Light burst out everywhere but a second later than intended by the spirits. Denahi was struggling to hold his spear in front of him as the bear was trying to not impale itself further on it. That was until the spirits of the deceased, mainly Sitka, lifted the bear up before it was changed into whom Denahi knew as Kenai and sat him on his feet in front of Denahi who was still crouching down . Not understanding what was happening around him he saw Sitka in the form of an eagle landing and changing into a human before he walked over to his brothers and took Kenai's totem from Denahi's spear and Denahi's cape to put around Kenai. Disgusted Denahi looked at his bloody spear before throwing it as far away as he could.

As he did that he looked up at his little brother and saw that even though he had changed form he still had a gaping hole in his chest from the spear. Denahi suddenly lost all his air and he felt like falling down on his knees as if the cub had just attacked him while he was landing on the ledge simultaneously. First of all, his brother wasn't dead but, second of all, because of himself, he would soon be as brotherless as he thought he was. Kenai was standing and even smiling at Sitka, but he was also in noticeable pain. Denahi stood up but before he could walk the few meters over to his brothers, Kenai was already walking away. Denahi and Sitka both looked at him as he reached the bear cub. Kenai talked softly to it and cub jumped into his arms soon after, a bit too forcefully considered that Kenai was injured, but none of them seemed to take any notice of it. The moment between them would probably have been a lot longer had Kenai not fallen to his side groaned in pain. The cub nuzzled him desperately while Sitka half ran over to them quickly followed by Denahi who sat down in front of him. Kenai was still conscious but had loosen his hold of the cape around him, which gave all three around him the chance to see how red the inside of it was by now. Sitka started to caress Kenai's hair almost as one would soothe a child while Denahi looked at the scene still not able to comprehend all that happened in such a short amount of time.

He fell to his knees and put his hand on Kenai's arm rubbing it up and down in a soothing manner. He didn't even know if it helped Kenai at all but it calmed Denahi down. Without wanted them to, the words fell out of his mouth, "I'm so sorry, Kenai. So very sorry. If I had only followed my own advice and not been blinded…. I just thought that something had… Had…. And now it did happen." He then broke down. There wasn't any screaming or unstoppable crying but only a few tears while he took a tight hold of one of Kenai's hands. Kenai tried to reassure him that it wasn't his fault but it fell for deaf ears. Denahi didn't know what to feel anymore. He was mad, sad, and everything in between. He was happy to finally see both his brothers again, but just as he felt angry at Kenai at first for Sitka's death, he felt a thousand times more angry at himself now. If he had acted just a slightly differently; wondered why the bear barely got away so many times because it tried to not hurt him, followed his own advice and never hunted it down, or anything else really, he wouldn't be sitting in despair with a bear, a spirit and the brother he tried to kill. Denahi felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up at Sitka. Sitka sent a reassuring smile, but that didn't change how lost Denahi felt and even made him more confused than he already was. The spirits didn't show themselves often and when they did it was mostly only briefly, or so he had heard at least, but his brother didn't seem to prepare himself to leave. When his thought had lingered a bit he felt his fear tenfold, because why would his brother be able to stay for so long after he had changed Kenai back other than to be there when Kenai turned into a spirit? Of course Denahi didn't know how or why Kenai turned into a bear in the first place, but he felt that the spirit's deed was done. Of course Denahi was happy to see Sitka and he wished that he would stay forever, even though his touch both felt like it wasn't there at all and like it was there as much as when any living thing touched him. But if he could choose Denahi would choose to lose his big brother again right at that second instead of having both his brothers for only a minute, an hour or even a day more and then losing them both again, and the fear that that was what was happening scared him so much it almost took over all his other emotions.

"Koda, I'm sorry but I think you will have to walk to the Salmon Run by yourself" Denahi quickly looked at Kenai. Wondering whom he was talking to so suddenly when he saw that it was the bear cub. The guilt started to eat at Denahi to the point that he thought he could throw up right at that moment. Kenai looked as much as a small child at that moment as Denahi felt like one, and it was horrible to see his little brother, barely old enough to get his totem, apologizing for his own demise. The cub did not help either. After hearing Kenai's apology it started to grunt and moan sadly while pushing him. It was so desperate to get its message across that it left red cuts all over Kenai, but no one said anything. It didn't matter anyway. The cuts weren't even deep enough to normally be any problem and Kenai would be dead soon anyway. The only thing they did was making Denahi realise how little time his brother had left because of the big contrast between their redness and the odd paleness of Kenai's skin. After what felt like an eternity the cub stopped pushing and grunting and just went as close as it could to Kenai in a little ball right under his chin. Kenai took his free hand and put it on the bear before he looked up first at Sitka and then at Denahi with a small and tired smile. "I'm so glad you're all here" Personally Denahi thought the word "glad" was an inappropriate thing to say at that moment, but he chose not to comment on his thoughts. Instead, he let go of Kenai's hand and did his best to seem calm and as reassuring as Sitka always was, not that he could fool anyone but it at least helped him not falling completely apart while he let Kenai talk. "But I'm sad about leaving you," Kenai continued.

Denahi knew deep inside what he meant but he still acted obvious to it. "Yeah you better be. But it's okay we're all here now, right? And we will just have to take you to the village and you can heal there. Sitka and I can carry you, right Sitka?" Desperately he looked at Sikta who put both his hands on Denahi's shoulder and looked more serious and sad than anyone had ever seen him. But that was not what broke a bit more of Denahi. He could live with Sitka being strict, mad, even sad, but not the way he shook his head. Such a small movement of the head from one side to the other while their eyes still were connected for a few seconds until Denahi couldn't take it anymore. "Fine, then I will just carry him myself." Kenai was calling his name but he ignored it until Kenai was almost shouting.

"What is it, Kenai?! I can't just leave you to die here!" Denahi looked at Kenai with a scowl. He knew he was acting like a child but he didn't have time at the moment to be embarrassed. Kenai looked conflicted and tried to look brave but his tired eyes and pale skin made it nearly impossible. Denahi began adjusting the cape around his impossible brother. "We're on a mountain, Denahi, you will kill yourself trying." Denahi kept adjusting the cape despite it already covering all it could. "Well then I die. You need to come back to the village because… " His hands stop moving as he looked at both his brothers. Wanting to tell them about how he couldn't stand being all alone. How the only thing that had kept him going was first trying to talk Kenai out of seeking revenge and then his personal mission to get it for Kenai's death and even then he almost lost his sanity. How he loved his life in the village but it was nothing if he lost both of the people he loved the most. How he could never imagine living without Sitka's guidance or Kenai's joy of life, let alone living without them both. But he didn't say that. Instead he said something he started to regret saying the second he said it, because it sounded so utterly idiotic and it was probably the worst reason anyone could think of. "Because you owe me a basket of fish. It took me two weeks to make the basket, so you need to give me a new basket and fish." Sitka clearly understood the meaning behind it and Kenai seemed to understand at least some of the meaning of it after looking puzzled for a bit.

Kenai started to look even paler. Denahi didn't think it was possible since they all had the same tan skin but Kenai just kept getting paler and paler and looking like he could lose consciousness at any moment. Denahi was desperate. He had turned Kenai on his back in a flash barely noticing the cub being pushed away in the process, and was trying to make him stand by taking his arms under Kenai's arms and around his chest. The adrenaline rushed through his veins making the task much easier than normally but it was still hard. Kenai was one of the more slender boys but he was still almost a man and therefore weighted more than Denahi normally carried. When he finally had a good hold of Kenai but still was very unbalanced, he felt a hand on his head and was pushed to the ground. Anger filled Denahi and he looked up at his older brother. He was stopped though when he saw what Sitka was looking at. It was Kenai. He still had open eyes but he wasn't there, not really. For a moment Denahi couldn't breathe but then he saw Kenai's shallow breaths and he filled his lungs with air once more. Denahi looked up at Sitka "What are we going to do, Sitka? Or what can we do?" Sitka just looked at him. Pity mixed with the same look he used when he was alive that meant, 'you know the answer already', but Denahi didn't know the answer because he refused to believe there was nothing he or Sitka could or would do. If he could change Kenai into a bear and back again then he should be able to fix a simple, deadly wound. Kenai's breath started to get even shallower and for the first time Denahi held his little brother as close to himself as he could. Sitka crouched down next to his brothers. Denahi didn't know if spirits could cry but he looked like he was about to do that. "Why did you lead me to him?" Denahi looked away "You knew what I had been trying to do. So is this really the spirits big plan?" He saw Sitka shook his head in the corner of his eye.

Denahi wanted to say a lot more. Things that could show his rage, misery and more, but he didn't say anything. The bear cub sought comfort under the cape Kenai was wearing, but quickly hurried out with blood on its muzzle. Kenai barely seemed to register it but made a small noise in discomfort that stopped when Sitka lightly brushed a hand along his's face. Denahi felt like he had a hand inside his chest that squished his insides and he hid his face in Kenai's shoulder. They sat like that for a minute that felt longer than anything anyone of them had ever experienced. The only thing stopping them was when Sitka closed Kenai's eyes. Denahi hugged Kenai tighter. No longer having to leave any room for Kenai to breathe and he started to cry again. He felt like a child but for once he didn't care. The only thing he wanted to do was sit while holding his brother like a little girl holds a doll, but he was interrupted by Sitka who poked him and then pointed at the sky that by that point was filled with colours from all the spirits. Denahi looked back at his brother and pulled himself enough together to yell desperately at him, "You can't take him!" Sitka looked surprised at his brother as he continued with a voice so sad that it almost shed tears itself, "I won't let you do it!" The cub that had been oddly quiet agreed, or at least Denahi thought that was what the grunting meant, but it quickly went away when a big bear materialized a small distance away. Denahi thought for a moment that Kenai was right about bears not having feelings until he saw how they cuddled. It was so tender that the big bear could only be the mother of the cub. That at least explained why it was with Kenai.

Denahi looked away from the scene and hugged Kenai so tightly that he was afraid he was breaking his ribs. Once again he hid his face in Kenai's shoulder and let the tears run when he felt Kenai's head falling down his chest from the movement. And Denahi cried. He cried for Sitka and Kenai, but also the man he once was, the man he became, and what he would have to become now. Sitka stroked Denahi over his back but that made it all worse in a way. Here he was crying feeling so many things all at once both physically and emotionally, but soon he would have to walk alone and he simply wasn't strong enough.

Denahi suddely saw a bright light through his closed eyelids. He opened them and saw the light coming from Kenai's chest. Terrified he looked up and saw it disappeared in the flood of spirits in the sky. Looking down at his brother again he saw it spread like a wildfire. He hugged Kenai tighter and tighter, using all his strength, but it didn't help anything as the light kept spreading and took Kenai with it until Denahi's arms didn't have anything to hold anymore. He looked around and saw the big spirit-bear was walking up to the sky followed by Sitka. Denahi stood up and ran all he could to reach them but he barely made it in time to touch Sitka with his fingertips. Sitka felt the touch and looked back at his brother. None of them said anything, but their looks said it all. Sadly for both of them Sitka needed to join the other spirits and he therefore turned around and went up in the sky once more trying his hardest not to look back while he could feel his brothers eyes on him the whole way.

All the colours left the sky and left an ordinary dark blue sky behind, but Denahi kept looking up at it. The cub was running around making all kinds of noises. It was scary how much he could relate to the bear. It too had seen someone it thought it would never see again and then lost a dear one. He didn't move his eyes one bit but out of the corner of his eye he could see it started so sniff the snow Kenai had been lying on. Denahi fell to his knees and even the wind cried.

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 **This story should probably have been rated T, but better save than sorry, and if you have any critic please write it to me as a PM or review to this story.**


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